1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the following areas of technology:
PRINTED MATTER--a label; PA0 PRINTED MATTER--having revealable concealed information, fraud preventer or detector, use preventer or detector, or identifier by removable material that is adhesively attached; PA0 PRINTED MATTER--Advertising; PA0 CHEMISTRY--adhesive coatings on sheets and products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cents-off coupons and other types of discount coupons are well know to grocery shoppers. Local newspapers print various grocery item coupons, which will be honored by most major supermarket chains. Coupons are also published in magazines, and are frequently mailed to households in mass mailings. The retail establishments that accept and honor these coupon then have to collate the coupons, and forward them to the manufacturer for reimbursement plus handling costs. Coupons come in various shapes, sizes and condition. The cashier accepts the coupons as they are presented to her at the check out line at a supermarket. The accepted coupons then have to be sorted and processed, which is very time consuming to the supermarket. It takes time for the cashier to read each coupon, credit the customer's cash register receipt for the amount stated on each coupon, and also ensure that the customer has purchased the product stated on the coupon. The cashier then places the redeemed coupons in a special drawer for sorting later.
Redemption stamps and stamp booklets also are well known in the art. Green Stamps were popular in the 1950's. Participating retail stores would display a decal or sign indicating that they would issue Green Stamps. Whenever a customer purchased goods at the store, the store would issue to the customer a quantity of Green Stamps, which would usually be based upon the purchase price of the goods. The Green Stamps were similar to postage stamps and had a glued backing that only had to be moistened to activate the adhesive ability of the stamps. The customer was supplied with Green Stamp redemption booklets, which contained a fixed number of blank pages for gluing the Green Stamps thereto. The object was to fill up several booklets with Green Stamps. The full booklets then could be redeemed at a Green Stamp redemption center. The redemption center would give the redeemer free goods in exchange for a certain number of booklets filled with Green Stamps. The system was funded by the retail stores, which purchased the Green Stamps from the redemption center. The participating stores believed that issuing Green Stamps increased their business, because customers would prefer to shop at a store that issued Green Stamps over a store that did not.
Memory smart cards are known in the art. A company called SOLAIC with headquarters in Paris, France provides smart cards throughout Europe. A smart card is a credit card size plastic card with a memory chip or a microprocessor chip adhered to one side of the smart card. A microprocessor chip is also known as an integrated circuit chip, which is called an IC chip for short. IC chips find wide application in the computer industry. SOLAIC sells a type of microprocessor chip called the Eurochip. It has 221 bits of EEPROM with secured counting logic. SOLAIC also sells other types of microprocessor chips. A microprocessor chip functions like a ram chip. It can be reprogrammed. A memory chip is available from SOLAIC, which it calls the 256 memory chip. The 256 chip has 256 bits non erasable in PROM.
A smart card is used as a simple token prepaid card and up to the most sophisticated payment card. The smart card with a memory chip is widely used in Europe. It is used as a prepaid telephone card, or as a token to ride the subways, buses, or trains. Equipment is available to read these smart cards. For example, the user buys a $100 prepaid telephone card with a memory chip. The chip is programmed so that a telephone with the proper equipment will accept the smart card as payment for a telephone call and will automatically read the amount of money left on the chip and afterward will electronically deduct the amount of the call. After the $100 in telephone calls are paid for by the smart card, the user buys another smart card. It replaces the need to carry cash or a conventional credit card. If the smart card is lost, the buyer cannot get a refund, and the finder can use the card. Fortunately, the buyer only loses the amount left on the card. If the buyer were to lose his credit card, then he would have to cancel his card and worry about the finder of the credit card making fraudulent purchases with the card up to the credit limit of the card. The smart card can also be used to pay tolls on the subway and bus. The buyer buys $100 worth of tolls on the smart card. Every time he needs to ride the bus or the subway, he slips the smart card into the electronic reader previously installed to accept smart cards. The toll or the fare is electronically deducted from the $100 memory chip on the smart card. An electronic reader tells the holder how much money is still left on the card. If the buyer loses the smart card, then the finder can use the card. The card is the equivalent of cash for the toll or fare.
The memory smart card with a microprocessor chip can be used as a debit card in conjunction with an ATM machine. The owner of the card slips it into the ATM machine at his bank. The owner instructs the ATM machine to electronically enter $100 on the microprocessor chip on the smart card, and deduct $100 from the owner's bank account. The owner then uses the card as he would the memory chip smart card. The owner can also use the card to make purchases at retail establishments. Retailers prefer the smart card because the transaction is the equivalent of cash. The transaction cannot be voided later. Even if the smart card is lost the owner cannot stop the finder from using up the balance left on the smart card. As previously stated, the owner loses only the balance left on the smart card, but he does not have to cancel his lost credit card and then worry about fraudulent charges on his lost card. The retailer does not have to worry about accepting a credit car charge that may be uncollectible because the charge was made with a stolen credit card or lost credit card, or because the credit card account has been cancelled by the bank. After the $100 has been spent, the card holder returns to the ATM and replenishes the balance on the smart card from his bank account. The card holder can transfer variable amounts of cash to the smart card. The card holder can also have more than one smart card.
The credit card size plastic card which forms the smart card functions only as a vehicle to hold the memory chip or IC chip. The machines developed to read the smart card require that the smart card be a standard size, that the chip be adhered to the card at a certain location, and that the face of the chip be exposed so that the machine can read the chip. Smart cards can have printing on them to show that they are a phone card, or that they will be honored by various transit authorities. The readers are interconnected to computers so that the transaction is automatically deducted from the account which sold the smart card. The smart card is very convenient for the commuter. The same card can be used to pay for bus fare, to make small purchases, and to make phone calls at pay phones.
A smart card is similar to a credit card. Conventional credit cards are a standard size, and have an exposed magnetic strip adhered at a certain location on the card so that a magnetic strip reader can read the magnetic strip. The card has to be placed in a certain configuration in the reader before the reader can read the magnetic strip.